The development and socialization of emotional responsiveness of young children to the feelings and emotions of others are considered in two research questions: (1) How predictive of later affective behavior are behaviors early in life? (2) Can the young child's emotional responsiveness be predictively altered by planned rearing interventions? Investigation of the first question involves a four year follow-up of children who were assessed in the second year of life and who then showed relatively stable individual patterns of reactions to others' emotions, e.g., sympathy, avoidance, indifference, anger. Data gathered on the follow-up parallel those of the original study: the mother's dictated observations of the child's responses to incidents of affective expression in another person. The second research question involves planned interventions by mothers to facilitate empathic sensitivity and altruistic responding in their children. Follow-up data collection is in progress. Pilot testing on intervention procedures is underway.